Italy’s euroskeptic leader Salvini says euro is ‘irreversible’

League
leader Matteo Salvini said on Monday the euro was here to stay and he hoped
that nobody in his far-right, euroskeptic party would ever again raise doubts
over Italy’s membership of the single currency.

The League
ran at the European elections in 2014 under the slogan “No Euro” and it
presented prominent anti-euro campaigners among its candidates for May’s EU
ballot, when it won 34% of the vote to become Italy’s largest party.

However,
Salvini, who had already distanced himself from calls to quit the currency
during his recent time in government, made clear his party would never again
stand on an “Italexit” ticket as he bids to portray a more moderate image.

“I say this
once and for all, and then I hope that no one inside and outside my party will
raise this issue again. The League is not thinking about Italy’s exit from the
euro or the European Union”, Salvini told Il Foglio newspaper.

“To be
clearer still, so that journalists stop feeding strange fantasies: the euro is
irreversible,” he added.

The League
walked out of its government with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in
August in a failed attempt to trigger early elections. Its poll ratings have
since slipped and Salvini has adopted a softer tone on issues like Europe.

A senior
League source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that Salvini was
pursuing a pragmatic approach.

“We have
chosen credibility. We are putting forward things that we can do. We are not
going to quit the euro,” he said.

During the
League’s 14 months in government, the spread between Italian and German bonds
widened, and the cost of debt servicing increased, with financial markets
skittish about the permanently tense relations with Brussels.

The spread
tumbled when the pro-European Democratic Party (PD) replaced the League in the
coalition two months ago.

Despite
Salvini’s uncompromising tones, some prominent League members appeared
doubtful.

Claudio
Borghi, the League head of the lower house budget committee, told Reuters he
was skeptical Salvini had used the word “irreversible”. However, he said that
while the euro was a flawed project, the League never called for Italy to
abandon the currency during its time in government.

Anti-euro campaigners say quitting the euro would allow Italy to revive its stagnant economy by spending more and devaluing its currency, helping exports. Others warn the move would lead to a flight of capital, higher borrowing costs and inflation, reducing the value of Italians’ savings.